No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
by Pseudo-Discordance
Summary: Willhelm's position in the Order Of The Black Eagle was already somewhat questionable.  But when he fails to abduct a prisoner, and falls for a nearly fatal ruse by the Baron himself, what does fate have for him? Rated T for sickening gore and language.
1. Enter Wilhelm Gerich

Wilhelm Gerich of Alstadt walked through the corridor. He had been…shall we say…employed…by the great baron Alexander of Brennenburg for about a year now. He worked for Alexander as a sort of servant. He and a group of about nine other men had worked as servants to Alexander.

Wilhelm was a member of a group of associates, a guild, known as the Order of the Black Eagle. They were an order of chivalry in Prussia. Alexander was a member as well, and most of his accomplices were as well. The Black Eagle was the highest and most praised order in all of Prussia.

He was walking with a fellow servant restraining an elderly man they were carrying. The old man was struggling against the chains he was in. His rapid movements were becoming an annoyance to Wilhelm and the other servant, and they attempted to sedate him, but he was moving quite violently.

They finally found the door to the back hall. They opened it. Wilhelm and the other servant walked out into a large chamber bathed in blue light flowing coldly through the giant windows like freezing winds of a hostile Artic snowstorm. A large fountain lay in the center of the atrium. A statue pouring water into a large fountain basin. While the statue itself seemed decorative and nice-looking, it seemed strange, alien, and evil at times like this.

Standing near the fountain was a man in robes, watching the windows with anxiety, as if he expected a horrific dragon or monster to burst through the window and cut him down where he stood. But nothing happened, and he continued to watch the frame, reflective glass, and ambient light given off by the windows.

Wilhelm and the fellow servant walked over to Alexander. Standing next to the wealthy baron was a younger man, who couldn't be any older than thirty years. Wilhelm had seen this man before. Alexander referred to him as "Daniel." Daniel was brought here by the baron himself, because Alexander had decided to "help" him. Wilhelm and the rest of the order residing in the castle were involved.

Daniel had done something that overshadows all acts of evil or crime. He had discovered a strange artifact while on an archaeology find deep in the deserts of Africa. He and the rest of his team had apparently been trapped in an ancient underground tomb by a cave-in. Daniel reported seeing a stone orb, perfectly round, cut into a flawless spherical shape.

After Daniel had brought the orb back to his place of residence in England, he reported various people around him dying. After he had gone to a scientist regarding the orb's shape, he received news that the man had been killed, and many others involved in the orb case. Realizing something was following him, Daniel was in a distress and decided to leave England.

Daniel later received a letter from the baron himself, Alexander of Brennenburg, offering him sanctuary and safety in the castle. After Daniel's arrival at the castle, Alexander brought him to the Choir, deep beneath the castle.

Here, he conducted rituals on local civilians and tortured them. These rituals were meant to aid in extraction of a hormone processed by the body, known as "vitae." It was processed into the bloodstream when the human subject was experiencing fear, anger, stress, or extraneous pain. Alexander and Daniel brought that pain on their innocent subjects.

It was the job of Wilhelm and the other members of the order to venture through the forests outside of the castle and kidnap these people. Alexander told Daniel to participate in the rituals. The only reason Daniel accepted was because he was told that in doing so he would be able to keep the entity chasing him at bay for a momentary time period.

Wilhelm and his fellow worker walked over to Alexander with the latest subject. The baron turned and inspected the victim. The elderly prisoner was emaciated, looking like he was around being in his seventieth year on this earth. Alexander decisively said "Bring him down to the prison. Later tonight, bring him to the Choir so that Daniel and I may continue with the ritual." Wilhelm and the fellow servant walked past the wealthy baron to the hallway to the left of the back hall.

The man was struggling violently, yelling "HELP ME! SOMEBODY! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" The hallway to the elevator they would take had two large stone lions on each sides, and they apparently frightened the man. Wilhelm and the servant restrained the man and continued onwards to the elevator.

The elevator was steam powered, operated by engines and devices in a large machinery room accessible to the left side of the hallway. The elevator was quite prone to failure and every now and then, a servant would have to venture down to the storage, and find the replacement machinery parts.

The three men stepped into the elevator and let it slowly drop down through the levels of the castle. After about a minute in the ornate metal elevator, it came to a stop at the bottom of the shaft; the entrance to the prison.

The prison had a knack of not being adequately lighted. Parts of hallways were faintly lit, others had absolutely no light and seemed pitch black, as if there were no hallway there at all. The cells seemed like black empty rooms, and took a brave servant or prisoner with a light source to walk in to reveal that they contained a bed inside. Other than that, the prison was not that scary. Guards and servants patrolled the light and dark hallways, their eyes sweeping the hallways for escapees.

Many hallways that were not yet inhabited by prisoners or guards resided on the lower sections of the prison. These lower sectors were feared by prisoner and guard. Both feared having to go down there. The prisoner feared being assigned to a cell in the lower sections, and the guard feared being assigned to keep watch in the lower section.

Rumors arose of strange happenings going on in the lower section. Evil prisoners that lurked in the darkened hallways who killed any guard walking pass. Strange mutated creatures like giant earthworms, dogs and poisonous cave spiders. The hallways were especially darkened there. People reported hearing screams coming from within. Rumors had been going around that people had been brutally murdered in the lower prison sections, and their spirits haunted the straight-black cell blocks. Nobody had the bravery to venture down there to see.

As Wilhelm and the other 2 men stepped out of the elevator into the prison, they walked towards the cells. The moans, and echoing cries for help flooded the hallways like a lamenting tsunami. Wilhelm and the servant walked to cell 312, the cell in which the new prisoner would reside. Walking through the hallways, they say men, women, and children all pleading for freedom and rescue.

Finally after 5 minutes, the three reached the cell. The old man vainly yelled for someone to save him, but was forcibly thrown into his cell and locked in. Wilhelm and the servant then began the walk back to the elevator. They had a long night in store for them.


	2. Failure Will Not Be Tolerated

FOREWORD TO CHAPTER 2

It is said that no matter the circumstance, you are responsible for your actions at all times. It makes no difference whether it is war-time, peacetime, or if someone is holding a gun to your head. A man is responsible for his action whether he has done something good, or something horrendously bad. A man is counted on to do what he thinks is right in every situation or scenario. But sometimes this can become complicated when a man has a, shall we say, "different" view of what we know is "right." And sometimes, this view and the decisions a man makes that are affected by this view later on, can change a man's life forever, and mean the difference between life and death.

CHAPTER 2:

Failure Will Not be Tolerated

It was late at night, and the rays of the Prussian winter's harsh dry-ice moonlight shone through the frosted glass windows of Castle Brennenburg dimly.

Alexander had once again called upon his servants to retrieve another subject before the rituals began. Wilhelm and his fellow servants gathered in front of the opening to the castle. Five other servants attended the mission. Elst, who was a meek, younger servant in his 18th year; Heibert, who was an older servant gathered from the outskirts of Prussia who was a bit more knowledgeable than the other servants; Klien,a servant interested in medical information, and often helped out during the rituals themselves; and Storm and Dragen, who were strong, older men, who normally worked as guards for the castle, and often helped in bringing subjects to the castle.

Elst and Klein both held torches, lighting up the ground beneath them, casting an eerie ambience upon the kidnapping party that stood at the doors of the castle. Wilhelm walked to the front of the group of 6. He proclaimed,

"Fellow servants. We are here to capture yet another subject for Baron Alexander's rituals. Our subject is named Meister Danzig. He is housed in a cottage in the local town near the outskirts. He is a fisherman. Our objective is to go in, capture him, and escape silently without any problems, and without being caught. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," answered the fellow servants.

"Perfect. Let us continue now."

The group moved silently and swiftly through the forest, seldom making a noise. Every now and then, a branch would break, or a leave or several would brush against someone, but it was kept quiet.

Suddenly, a voice of a middle-aged man was heard: "HALT. WHO GOES THERE?"

The servants stopped dead in their tracks. Klien ducked down into the brush, while the others stood still. The group ceased breathing for a moment, and froze their positions to avoid being caught. This had never happened before. There was never usually a sheriff watching the town. Why now?

The sheriff was hard to see in the dim light coming from the town, but his outline was visible. He was coming this way, walking slowly, holding a rifle in his hand.

"SHOW YOURSELF."

Wilhelm and the servants made not a sound, and stood completely still. Storm, who was standing next to Wilehlm, whispered "How will we get out of this one?"

Wilhelm replied with "Stay still until we can find a way."

But they needed to do so quickly, as the sheriff was nearing their position.

Wilhelm decided to go for broke.

"RUN!"

At Wilhelm's command, all the servants bolted for the castle's location, running as fast as they could. Heibert and Elst were behind, being elderly and young, and not able to catch up to the others.

Then, Elst tripped on a tree root. He fell to the ground, struggling to recover and get up again. The sheriff came up behind him. At this moment, Wilhelm turned away to watch where he was going, and a second later a loud gunshot was heard. Another after that, and suddenly, Heibert fell. The group assumed that Elst was by now dead, but knew they couldn't risk the life of another servant. Wilhelm ordered Dragen to go back and grab Heibert. Dragen fell back for a second, but quickly caught up again with Heibert on his back.

The doors of the castle finally came into view through the brush of the forest, and Wilhelm broke through the forest's edge, feeling thorns and outstretching branches scrape his body. It didn't matter at this point.

The group opened the doors, closed them, and rushed through main hall. They ran past the corridors into the back hall. Dragen lay Heibert down onto the stone cold floor. Klien came over and examined Heibert.

"He is wounded. Shot in the leg. I can help him, but I will need time. Go on without me, and tell Alexander of the incident. I will bring our fellow servant down to the laboratory to help him. He needs immediate medical assistance."

Klien walked away with Heibert, who was limping, and headed through the doorways back to the laboratory. The rest of the group headed in a different direction to the archives, in an attempt to locate Alexander.

They found him cutting up a dog in the archives' main study, researching it's anatomy. Wilhelm came forth speaking;

"Alexander, there has been a problem. A sheriff caught us in the forests, and we have taken a casualty. Heibert is wounded in the leg, and Elst, we assume, is dead. We failed to capture Meister."

Alexander stared into Wilhelm's soul, his old eyes peering into those of his fellow order member.

"Fair enough. Wilhelm, surely you know that failure cannot be tolerated among the order. Normally members would be punished severely for failures this great."

"Yes, Alexander, I am aware," Wilhelm replied.

"Fair enough. You and the fellow servants are to return to your quarters. I believe though, I will let it slip this time."

Wilhelm was grateful to be spared "Thank you, Alexander. We will go now."

The servants left the back hall to their quarters.

Later, while resting in their quarters beneath the castle, Alexander came to the servants.

"My servants, in honor of your helping and contribution, I would like you to join me in a night of celebration in the wine cellar."

Wilhelm would have loved to take up the offer at a different time, but now he seemed distraught. The servants ad just failed Alexander, and one of them was dead, and the other wounded. Why celebrate now?

"My lord, you must surely be joking. We failed you. We lost a servant. You can't possibly be wanting to celebrate now."

Alexander seemed to be acting suspiciously, but it was always hard to tell. With Alexander, you never knew if he really wanted to celebrate, or was planning to kill you secretly "Yes, you may have failed, but tonight we push the thought aside. It is the time for celebration."

Wilhelm remained suspicious, but decided he might as well go along with it for now. "Alright. We accept."

"Perfect." replied Alexander. He left for the elevator and was on his way.

Wilhelm had no idea what he had just walked into.


	3. 3 Celebratory Slaughter

Alexander of Brennenburg stood motionless within his study, observing a self-portrait he had once hired a famed Prussian painter to make of him. It made him wonder about the mortality of the world he was trapped in. Nobody could live forever. Generations approached, and made their respective exits silently. And yet, Alexander stood by throughout each and every passing. He had seen great, powerful, and strong leaders rise and fall. But he had also seen weak, flawed, and corrupt ones. All passing by in what seemed like a blink of an eye to Alexander.

He wondered. How much longer would he be in this limited dimension? How many more centuries would he have to pass until he could see his beloved wife again? When would the era come, in which he would no longer have to watch other people die, while he lived on eternally?

His mind switched off track, to Daniel.

Ahh yes, Daniel…

Alexander had some sympathy for the poor boy. Daniel's situation was almost hopeless. And yet, he had some faith, some confidence. You had to give the young man some acknowledgement for how he assessed his own fate.

But it didn't matter. Soon, (hopefully) Alexander would be able to return to his own world, his own dimension. All with the help of Daniel himself.

But the chain of command that Alexander used to work towards his goal had its weak links among the others. Willhelm, on of his trusted members of the Order, was a problem. His servants were a problem. Alexander's servants and gatherer's were being killed swiftly and systematically by the guards of nearby towns.

All these servants were under the command of Willhelm.

But soon, the solution would be at hand. Alexander had set up a clever ruse, so as to easily remove the weakest link, and the others being weakened by it.

A celebration seemed simple enough. With lots of wine. Perfect. Slip an old recipe of Alexander's homeworld into the Wine, and the recipe for destruction would be complete. A lethal concoction known to be violent, malforming, and defiling to the user. A potion that practically rearranged the entire form of the unfortunate drinker, or anyone exposed to it for that matter.

This was not an act of revenge, no. This was an act of self-salvation. In the end, Alexander knew this act would turn out well.

He traveled down to the Wine Cellar. Through the Entrance Hall, down the stairs, through the doorway and into the cellar. The wine bottles everywhere would have given one the initial thought that it would be a lot of work poisoning them all. But Alexander's expertise had treated him well. He needed only place but a drop in each bottle, then move on. He felt rather sad for his soon-to-be-victims. But at least they would have no knowledge beforehand of their fate.

By the end of the hour, Alexander had successfully poisoned all the Wine reserves, and had headed down to the prison to awaken Willhelm and his servants. The time had come.

Wilhelm and the rest of his men followed Alexander down the corridor to the Wine Cellar. The other men were talking happily, conversing with great joy. But Willhelm remained silent. Something just wasn't right. He could sense it in the air.

As they walked into the Wine Cellar, Alexander presented them with enough wine to flood the whole Back Hall of the castle.

Wonderful.

Alexander bid them a good night, congratulated them, and headed upstairs. All the men cheered, knocking glasses and bottles against each other in toasts to their success.

In the midst of the commotion, not a soul heard the wooden door lock them in, sealing their fate for good.

After about an hour, the celebration was in full swing. Everybody was having a good time, the drinks tasted spectacular, and even Willhelm let his guard down for a bit to enjoy the festivities.

After a while, Klien spoke out randomly, and everybody was silent as he spoke.

"Where did the baron go?"

Heibert responded in a slurred tone: "Who cares? He left us enough wine to last us a lifetime! Or at least until tomorrow!" And with that, he gave out a drunken cackle, keeled over, passed out, and fell to the floor-taking the table and all its Wine bottles with him.

Everybody was having a good time. The men were still cheering, and the party looked like it would never end.

But then, something happened. Something that nobody saw coming. And when it happened, it took everybody by surprise.

But their realizations after, didn't

In what everyone initially perceived to be the sickness brought on by simply drinking an extraordinary amount, Heibert began wretching in agony on the floor, crying out in pain. Everybody stopped talking, moving-they even stopped breathing for a second. Then, Heibert began vomiting rather violently. In the dim light of the torches, Willhelm spotted blood mixed in with Heibert's vomit.

This was not supposed to be happening.

Klein rushed to the old man's assistance, checking to see what was quite wrong with the poor drunkard.

"It appears to be some kind of poisoning. Perhaps some reaction to the wi-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Heibert's eyes began to pour blood. His own blood splattered to the floor from his very eyes as he crawled, trying to get to the door in order to escape.

No such luck. As he went to open the door, he found it was locked. He tried to open it with all his might, but the door was bolted heavily into place. Alexander sealed them down here. Suddenly Klein fell over, gasping in agony:

"What's happening? It feels like my..chest is…going…to burst!"

Storm yelled out across the room:

"My god! Willhelm, do something!"

Willhelm could do nothing but acknowledge their fate. They would die an unbearably painful death down here. God had found them for their unspeakable acts of murder and kidnapping, and now their day of judgement had come.

"Accept it. We're not getting out of here alive."

Storm was taken aback by this remark. He was known for having determination, and he wouldn't give up his life so easily.

"How can you say that?" And banging on the door, in a vain attempt to escape, he yelled "Alexander, you piece of shit, let us out of here!" and he fell over, coughing and vomiting enough blood to fill ten wine bottles on their own.

Heibert was dead, blood pooling in his open mouth. Klein, despite his deteriorating condition as well, did his best to try to tend to everyone.

Suddenly, Willhelm fell over as well. A pain unlike any kind he had ever experienced rose up in his stomach. A pain that could only be compared to 5 hot, rusted metal spikes being thrust into his stomach simultaneously. At that moment, he too, began vomiting. It felt as though his very insides were coated in a layer of napalm, and set aflame with a stray match.

He imagined Alexander up in his study, laughing giddily as he and his subjects were being tortured by their own temptation and greed. He hated Alexander. And from this very hate, he drew a burst of energy. He crawled up to a nearby table, found a quill and inkwell nearby, and began to write his last words, his final will and testament.

After finishing writing, his hands almost immediately started to have an onset of unrivalled pain. The very bones in his fingers started growing out past his skin, shooting out of his fingertips like ghastly blades of human flesh. While ironically, the bone in his jaw felt as though it was dissolving. Suddenly his lower jaw fell down to his chest, having no bones inside to support it.

The feeling of your own skin, bones, blood and flesh grafting itself into some monstrous form is no doubt, the worst feeling anybody can have to go through. And as Willhelm was experiencing it right there, he didn't know how much more he could take before he blacked out. He figured if he did, he most likely wouldn't wake up.

After crawling along the floor with his horrific abominations of hands for another five minutes, he started to feel himself slipping away into blackness. He couldn't quite make out his fellow servants, but he know most, if not all of them were dead. The last thing in his distorted vision was Dragen, lying on a table. His body disfigured beyond recognition.

Willhelm then passed out.


End file.
